21 August 2008, 6:00 am
Mr Guillory adds that Democrats who succeed in North Carolina are those who can reach out to culturally conservative white voters. Mr Kerry, a windsurfer, could not manage this. Mike Easley, who won reelection as governor that year, could. He once crashed a racing car near Charlotte, for example, and that endeared him to stock-car racing fans. “When Obama goes before a black audience and talks about the need for fathers to be present and hug their kids and all that, that’s as appealing to a white audience in the South as it is appealing to a black audience,” Mr Guillory says. “And if Jesse Jackson doesn’t like it, so much the better among white voters.... read more